ve energy,
which distinguished his youth, no less marked his advancing years. His
mind was as clear, his judgment as sound, and his mental vision as keen
at eighty-three, as they were at thirty-three. His was a long and happy
old age. He lingered in the house his own hands had builded, content to
go or stay, till he was transferred, December twelfth, 1891, to the
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

VII

THE PRINCE OF INDIAN PREACHERS.

Without disparagement to any of his brethren in the ministry, this
title can be properly applied to the Rev. John Baptiste Renville, of
Iyakaptapte, (Ascension) South Dakota, who recently passed on to join
the shining ranks of the saved Sioux in glory.

Timid as a little child, yet bold as a lion, when aroused; shy of
conversation in private, yet eloquent in the pulpit and in the
council-chamber; yielding yet firm as a rock, when duty demanded it; a
loving husband, a kind father, a loyal citizen, a faithful presbyter--a
pungent preacher of the gospel, a soul-winner--a courteous, cultured
Christian gentleman; such a man was this Indian son of a Sioux mother,
herself the first fullblood Sioux convert to the Christian faith.

He was the youngest son of Joseph Renville, a mixed blood Sioux and
French, who was a captain in the British army in the War of 1812 and
the most famous Sioux Indian in his day. After the war, he became a
trader and established his headquarters at Lac-qui-Parle, where he
induced Dr. Thomas S. Williamson to locate his first mission station in
1835.

John Baptiste was one of the first Indian children baptized by Dr.
Williamson and he enjoyed the benefits of the first school among the
Sioux. He was rather delicate, which hindered his being sent east to
school as much as he otherwise would have been. However, he spent
several years in excellent white schools, and he acquired a fair
knowledge of the elementary branches of the English language. The last
year he spent at Knox College, Galesburgh, Illinois, where he wooed and
won Miss Mary Butler, an educated Christian white woman, whom he
married and who became his great helper in his educational and
evangelistic work.

[Illustration:
JOHN B. RENVILLE[1] JOHN P. WILLIAMSON, D.D. DANIEL RENVILLE
JOHN EASTMAN CHARLES R. CRAWFORD

All Indian Ministers Except Dr. Williamson]

[1] Died Dec. 19, 1904

[Illustration: The Rev. Thomas S. Williamson, M.D.,
Forty-five y